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The East End, the West End, and King's Cross: on Clustering in the Four-Player Hotelling Game

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  • Steffen Huck
  • Wieland M¸ller

    (Department of Economics, Humbold University Berlin, Spandauer Str. 1, 10178 Berlin, Germany.)

Abstract

We study experimentally a standard four-player Hotelling location game with a uniform density of consumers and inelastic demand. The pure strategy Nash equilibrium configuration consists of two firms located at one quarter of the "linear city, " and the other two at three quarters. We do not observe convergence to such an equilibrium. In our experimental data we find three clusters. Besides the direct proximity of the two equilibrium locations, this concerns the focal midpoint. Moreover, we observe that whereas this midpoint appears to become more notable over time, other focal points fade away. We explain how these observations are related to best-response dynamics, and to the fact that the players rely on best-responses in particular when they are close to the equilibrium configuration. Copyright 2002, Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Steffen Huck & Wieland M¸ller, 2002. "The East End, the West End, and King's Cross: on Clustering in the Four-Player Hotelling Game," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(2), pages 231-240, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:ecinqu:v:40:y:2002:i:2:p:231-240
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Tsakas, Nikolas & Xefteris, Dimitrios, 2018. "Electoral competition with third party entry in the lab," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 121-134.
    3. Orzen, Henrik & Sefton, Martin, 2008. "An experiment on spatial price competition," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 716-729, May.
    4. Aurélie Bonein & Stéphane Turolla, 2023. "Spatial competition with demand uncertainty: A laboratory experiment," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(4), pages 906-939, October.
    5. Gaëtan Fournier & Marco Scarsini, 2014. "Hotelling Games on Networks: Efficiency of Equilibria," Post-Print halshs-00983085, HAL.
    6. David J. Butler, 2005. "A Reality Check for Game Theory," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(1), pages 137-147, February.
    7. Dimitrios Xefteris & Iván Barreda-Tarrazona & Aurora García-Gallego & Nikolaos Georgantzis, 2018. "Catalog Competition: Equilibrium Characterization and experimental evidence," Working Papers 2018/08, Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón (Spain).
    8. Aurélien Nioche & Basile Garcia & Thomas Boraud & Nicolas Rougier & Sacha Bourgeois-Gironde, 2019. "Interaction effects between consumer information and firms' decision rules in a duopoly: how cognitive features can impact market dynamics," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-11, December.
    9. Lisa R. Anderson & Beth A. Freeborn & Jessica Holmes & Mark Jeffreys & Dan Lass & Jack Soper, 2006. "Location, Location, Location! A Classroom Demonstration of the Hotelling Model," Working Papers 44, Department of Economics, College of William and Mary, revised 05 Feb 2007.
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    11. Dimitrios Xefteris & Iván Barreda‐Tarrazona & Aurora García‐Gallego & Nikolaos Georgantzís, 2023. "Catalog competition: Theory and experimental evidence," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 61(1), pages 122-137, January.
    12. Barreda-Tarrazona, Iván & García-Gallego, Aurora & Georgantzís, Nikolaos & Andaluz-Funcia, Joaquín & Gil-Sanz, Agustín, 2011. "An experiment on spatial competition with endogenous pricing," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 74-83, January.
    13. Camacho-Cuena, Eva & Garcia-Gallego, Aurora & Georgantzis, Nikolaos & Sabater-Grande, Gerardo, 2005. "Buyer-seller interaction in experimental spatial markets," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 89-108, March.
    14. Curtis Kephart & Daniel Friedman, 2015. "Hotelling revisits the lab: equilibration in continuous and discrete time," Journal of the Economic Science Association, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 1(2), pages 132-145, December.
    15. Jan Potters & Sigrid Suetens, 2013. "Oligopoly Experiments In The Current Millennium," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 439-460, July.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection

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